Ex-girlfriend sentenced to 10 years for killing Pine Creek First Nation leader, role model

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As he lay bleeding in the doorway of his home after being stabbed in the chest by his girlfriend, Lance Moosetail summoned the strength to tell his 18-year-old son he loved him.

Local emergency responders tried to save the 51-year-old Pine Creek First Nation man’s life as paramedics raced there from Swan River on June 23, 2022. But Moosetail was pronounced dead when they got him to hospital in Swan River, about an hour after the stabbing.

The domestic killing had an immeasurable impact on Moosetail’s loved ones and his small, isolated community, Court of King’s Bench Justice Sandra Zinchuk said when she sentenced 43-year-old Sheryl Leeann Thompson to 10 years in prison earlier this month in Dauphin.

Thompson had earlier entered a guilty plea to manslaughter, after Winnipegosis RCMP charged her with second-degree murder.

Moosetail’s killing, at the hands of an intimate partner, was somewhat of a rarity in Canada, but not unheard of; it is much less likely for men to be killed by their romantic partners in Canada than women, research indicates.

A report prepared for the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime in 2020 found little attention has been paid to the needs of men who fall victim to domestic violence, with a shortage of resources for them, as most victims tend to be women.

The report found service providers such as shelters may not be equipped with the tools to help men and may view them with suspicion.

Men are less likely to report domestic violence to police, the report found, and when they do, some risk being treated as the perpetrator.

That report called for increasing awareness and education on intimate partner violence broadly, to ensure the courts and police recognize domestic violence against men and to increase shelter capacity and programming across the board, among other recommendations.

Indigenous men are also more likely to face domestic violence than other populations, the report said.

Moosetail, who worked as a safety officer for the First Nation on Lake Winnipegosis east of Swan River for six years, was well-known and respected in the community, the judge said.

“Moosetail was not only a supportive and dependable family member and friend, he was a leader and role model in a small, Indigenous community,” said Zinchuk.

Thompson, Moosetail’s partner in an acrimonious relationship of about 21/2 years, had called 911 just minutes before she attacked him following hours of drinking and cocaine use that left her highly intoxicated.

Moosetail did not drink or use drugs and there were frequent arguments about Thompson’s substance abuse, and over jealousy and finances.

She later told a probation officer the relationship had effectively ended a few months prior, but she hadn’t found another place to live. Both made calls to emergency services in the days leading to the stabbing.

In the 911 call, Thompson claimed Moosetail had been choking her, before she could be heard saying “f–k you” twice, after which Moosetail could be heard “screaming in pain” and crying out “you stabbed me,” Zinchuk wrote in her sentencing decision.

She later acknowledged to the court she lied about Moosetail choking her.

While Thompson was on 911 and responders were on the way, Moosetail used a two-way radio to plead with a friend, the fire chief of a nearby community, to not let him die.

His 28-year-old daughter, upon seeing emergency vehicles headed to his house, told her 18-year-old brother to go check on their dad. He found his father, saw the blood and heard Thompson lie about what happened, before Moosetail said, “I love you, my son.”

It was two days before his high-school graduation.

Thompson said Moosetail had slashed a tire on her vehicle, tripped on the dog and fell on the knife. She repeated similar claims to RCMP, again saying that Moosetail had choked her and that he planned to blame her for his death by stabbing himself.

In a victim impact statement to the court, Chief Derek Nepinak said Moosetail was the face of community safety in the First Nation of about 1,200 residents, and the “hurt and trauma” of his death remains.

Cpl. Ryan Powe of the area RCMP detachment said the death shook Mounties, who relied on him in their work.

Thompson, who has five children, had a chaotic childhood marked by substance abuse, domestic violence, physical discipline and sexual assault, court heard.

She began to drink socially at 16 and continued to numb her pain. She picked up a cocaine habit after her mother’s death in 2005.

She has completed programming for substance use, anger management and domestic violence while in custody, the judge said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca